Friday, October 29, 2010

Thank you, NPR, for the HNS

Hourly News Summaries hookin' me up. I get so out of touch, living overseas. Thanks, NPR. Click Listen>Hourly News Summary once an hour to keep yourself in the loop.

in reference to: NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR (view on Google Sidewiki)

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Key things: The human body has an incredible capacity for long-term happiness

Chronic and long-term depression foregrounding a variety of frames is discussed in this article.


Key things to know: 
  1. There are two basic chemicals/hormones that promote happiness.  Like happiness, these two chemicals come in a  variety of sub-types.  Enjoy them all but remember that they can all be drained.  Shoot for the long haul and don't go overboard.  Enjoy too much 'jocular catharsis', and you might wear yourself out.  Also, remember that bio-availability is essential to the physiological understanding of this issue of happiness while reading #2.  As is appropriate, restraint doesn't only increase the amount of joyful experiences overall, but it also increases a person's implicit appetite for happiness, which may be equally as satisfying as the happiness itself.
  2. Be exercised and clean, especially inside!  People are always adding to their bodies to promote high health.  Sometimes, it's more about what you take away.  The body can only process so much.  Vegetarian diets (even temporary) promote high quality waste disposal, as does exercise.  Vegetables also have the elements necessary to regenerate the chemicals required for happiness and the enzymes to create them; on the other hand, meat offers little of what is necessary for these things.  Talk to yourself like an adult.  You can do these things.  And stay hydrated and stretched while exercising!
  3. Most emotions are okay, with one exception: anger.  If you notice yourself covering your eyes, biting your lips, or picking your nails--self destructive--, you might be frustrated with what you are feeling.  Know the appropriate responses to all the emotions.  Work through or control the extremely stressful ones (for example, shame and confusion) and indulge in/retreat to/enjoy the ones that aren't trying and can even be relaxing for the body (for example, sadness and empathy).  





More on types of anger and their dealings:


People can be all kinds of angry, just like all kinds of happy.  So, it's often difficult to decipher.  That's why I'm trying to emphasize that you should look out for the behavioral indicators of "madness".  Let's look at some examples:

  1. If you are sleeping in such a way that it will damage your face eyes or neck (flat on your face), or cause damage to your upper back or shoulder (on your side with your shoulders closed), you might be "grumpy".  
  2. If someone says something that makes you feel sadness or disappointment, then weakness, then repression; or, if you find yourself talking endlessly to a person who is troublesomely non-communicative; you might be "frustrated".
  3. If you find yourself biting your nails, chewing your lips, covering your eyes, gritting your teeth, etc., you might be "anxious".


Now that we have compartmentalized our emotions, let's look at what the above three forms of anger mean and some common approaches for dealing with them.  

Grumpiness: Grumpiness comes from worry, rumination, and other forms of personal investment.  Reassure yourself that activities will be around the next day and that entertainment isn't worth loss of sleep.  Also, be aware that sleep can be entertaining.  For example, think of a happy or peaceful place.  You can also try to focus on something that isn't typical.  In other words: try to unlock little-used components of your cognition.  So, if people consider you an artistic person, think about something analytical: if people consider you an analytical person, try thinking of something artistic.



Frustration: Frustration grows from situatedness in uncomfortable emotions and overcomplicated issues/situations.  Above, I listed two of the most trying emotions: shame and confusion.  In the case of shame, there are two options: silence and honesty.  For most people, silence is the most feasible, but they try to be honest, anyway.  True honesty means understanding your own emotions and expressing them.  Be honest: is expressing your emotions in public going to lead to indignation?  If so, try to save the truth for an appropriate (or rather, feasible) context.  


In the case of confusion, again, there are two options: distraction through acceptance and interest resulting from curiosity.  Especially in people with a low quality of self esteem, confusion followed by austere suspicion(s) can be extremely infuriating and damaging.  Get in touch with your curiosity.  Be prepared with commonly known, productive speaking structures, for people who are learning something knew (i.e., "Good to know!" or "Thanks, for this savory new information.").  In the case of acceptance, you'll need to have done some groundwork.  Topical issues and creative activities are a most excellent and useful distraction.  Try to juggle one in risky situations, just in case.  It's difficult to distract when there is nothing to distract to.  Note that distraction may be necessary in certain situations; such as, when you are dealing with somebody who is stubborn, or when you are in a social hierarchy that does not allow for querying.


Anxiety: What most people don't realize is that even the most basic definition of anxiety reveals that anxiety is an implication of both low quality self esteem and anger.  Fear, as well, is implicative of low quality self esteem and anger, but fear is typically combined with shame or confusion.  Attachment psychologists, for example, define fearful attachment systems as a combinations of anxious attachment styles and avoidant attachment styles.  Let's get back to anxiety, though.  It's probably no surprise that the best possible way to deal with self harm and harmful self-deprecation--to learn to feel good about yourself and treat yourself right--, is to work on your relationship with yourself.  The swiftest, most effective method to develop this relationship, quickly, is going to seem a bit crazy....  Talk to yourself.  


And why not?  People journal, to themselves.  People draw self portraits.  People sing songs they like.  And everybody "works things out" in their head, to some extent. Well, to all you anxious people out there: it's time to show your work.  A mass of psychological evidence has almost shown direct causation between low quality self esteem and repression of the oral thinking style.  Now, repression is often dismissed as "black psychology"--psychology that isn't legal by today's standards, or is borderline unethical, or is de-emphasized at the university level.  The truth is, I agree that it's black psychology; however, it would be incredibly obtuse and illogical to take that as a reason ignore the single  psychological gold mine research on repression has accentuated through sound methodology and scientific means.  More black psychology has revealed that self injurious behavior is coded into our DNA; perhaps, as a healthy defense mechanism against fear (a pathway back to sanity).  Repression and anxiety, in high doses, lead to NPD (narcissistic personality disorder) and DPD (dissociative personality disorder), to name just two.  This is why I urge you to focus on self esteem when dealing with your anxiety, rather than exposure.  


Here is a bonus set of tips for self psychology that my collection of books and professors have passed on to me:

  • During self psychology, try to find comfortable topic matter.  
  • Speak to yourself as you might speak to an awesome new friend.  
  • If you can't be honest with yourself, who can you be honest with?  
  • No issue is too big or too small.  
  • Remember, even if a part of you is a child, the whole of you is an adult.  
  • Talking to oneself is the healthiest of nervous tics because the tic is comprehensibly articulate, and our self-serving biases inspire us to placidity.  
  • Most people only speak to themselves through creative filters; sometimes, however, we need to just dig in to the raw truth of how we are feeling in real time.  
  • Do everything you can to treat yourself right because, hey, it's you.  And you deserve it! 
  • Just dive right in: you'll be surprised at how naturally it comes to you.



That's it for now.  Hope you enjoyed the read.  Send me a comment or fan me, especially if you enjoyed the reading or have a psychological publication of your own.